Princess Diana’s Siblings: Everything to Know About Her Brother and Sisters

Princess Diana was one of five children born to parents John Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd.

She grew up with two older sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, and a younger brother, Charles Spencer, 9th Earl Spencer. Diana also had an older brother, John Spencer, who died just hours after his birth in 1960.

While Diana’s older sisters Sarah and Jane have lived relatively private lives since the royal death in 1997, Charles has been vocal in championing and protecting Diana’s memory and legacy. On Diana’s 60th birthday in July 2021, all three siblings joined the late princess’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, for the unveiling of an honorary statue of Diana in the grounds of Kensington Palace.

Today, Charles lives in Althorp, the home where Diana and her siblings grew up, and which is also the site of her final resting place.

In 2017, he told PEOPLE that he always felt “intensely protective” of his sister and wished he could have saved her from her tragic accident.

“I was furious, I wasn’t just angry,” he recalled. “[I thought] what could i do. It was just… it was devastating.”

From their childhood to celebrating their sister’s life, here’s everything you need to know about Princess Diana’s siblings.

Their parents divorced when they were young

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After marrying in 1954, Princess Diana’s parents, John Spencer and Frances Shand Kydd, had their first child, daughter Sarah, a year later. Their second child, Jane, was born in 1957. Before having Diana in 1961 and a son, Charles, in 1964, the couple also had a boy named John, although he died on the same day.

John and Frances divorced in 1969 and John was awarded sole custody of the children.

“Diana and I had two older sisters who were away at school, so she and I were in it a lot together and I talked to her about it,” Charles said. The Sunday Times 2020 due to the separation of his parents. “Our father was a quiet and constant source of love, but our mother was not cut out for motherhood. It’s not her fault she couldn’t do it. She was in love with someone else—in love, really.”

Charles said there are many myths about their childhood

Diana Spencer and Charles Spencer as children.

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Diana and her siblings grew up at Park House, a rented house on Queen Elizabeth’s Sandringham estate, until the mid-1970s, when John moved the family to Althorp Estate, the Spencer family home located in Northamptonshire, England.

In 2017, Charles told PEOPLE that there were “many myths” about their upbringing, including that his sister was never called “Di” and that the royal family was never particularly shy.

“First of all, none of us ever called her ‘Di’ at home. In fact, there are so many myths from our childhood that are just ridiculous. That’s one of them,” he told PEOPLE. “I just don’t think she was ever shy, but she was tricky with people and reserved at first. And she would judge someone before reacting to them. So it’s not shy… it’s actually quite clever.”

He also described Princess Diana as “incredibly brave” and recalled the time he and his sisters caught lobsters while visiting their mother in Scotland.

“We stopped [a pot] and it was a really huge eel,” he said. “It was black and had teeth, it was very long and it fluttered around the ship. And Diana had just taken out a penknife and dealt with it. It was hand to hand and she just got stuck inside. That thing really was a creature of the deep. And she just dealt with it.”

Princess Diana had an older brother John who died a few hours after his birth

Princess Diana’s parents, John and Frances, welcomed their third child, a boy named John, on January 12, 1960. Sadly, John died a few hours after his birth.

Princess Diana did not publicly mention her brother during her lifetime, but in May 2022, her younger brother Charles shared on Instagram that he had his older brother’s tombstone restored.

“It looks right now,” Charles captioned a photo of the tombstone before and after the work. “… I never knew my older brother, John, and I live 100 miles from his grave – but seeing this last summer made me realize that serious action was needed. Thank you, BB, for making everything look right. #family # rip #brother.”

Sarah briefly dated King Charles before Princess Diana – and met them

Prince Charles and Lady Sarah Spencer in 1977.

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Diana’s eldest sister Sarah, who is six years her senior, briefly dated King Charles in the late 70s. Although the romance between Sarah and King Charles did not last, she introduced her younger sister to the then prince.

“I met them. I’m Cupid,” Sarah said Guard in 1981.

When Charles and Diana got engaged, Sarah was already married to Neil McCorquodale – with whom she has three children: George, Emily and Celia.

Jane married Queen Elizabeth’s Assistant Private Secretary in 1978

Lady Jane Fellowes attends the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018 in Windsor, England. Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty

When Diana was 16, her sister Jane married the then Assistant Private Secretary to Queen Elizabeth II, Robert Fellowes. Diana was a bridesmaid at the wedding.

Jane’s marriage to Fellowes eventually brought the sisters physically closer, as the Fellowes family lived in Kensington Palace, where Diana lived with her then-husband King Charles and their two sons.

Unfortunately, however, the professional connections Fellowes had with the royal family were ultimately the cause of the annulment of Jane and Diana’s relationship in the last years of Diana’s life. Robert was promoted to private secretary in 1990 – and as Diana’s marriage to King Charles began to unravel, he often remained loyal to the palace. The sisters reportedly barely spoke in the last 18 months of Diana’s life, and Jane never spoke publicly about the princess’s death.

Jane is still married to Fellowes, and the couple have three children of their own: Laura, Alexander and Eleanor.

Charles is the father of seven children

Earl Spencer on TV show ‘Lorraine’ in London on June 10, 2021. Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock

Diana’s younger brother Charles had seven children during his three marriages.

He had four children with his first wife, Victoria Lockwood: Lady Kitty Eleanor Spencer, Lady Eliza Victoria Spencer, Lady Katya Amelia Spencer and Louis Spencer, Viscount Althorp. After Charles and Lockwood divorced in 1997, he married second wife Caroline Freud, with whom he shares the Honorable Edmund Spencer and Lady Lara Spencer.

In 2011, Charles married his third wife, Karen Gordon, and the couple have one daughter named Lady Charlotte Diana Spencer.

Sarah, Jane and Charles are close to Princess Diana’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry

Prince Harry, Lady Sarah McCorquodale, Prince William and Lady Jane Fellowes.

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All three of Diana’s siblings maintain close relationships with their nephews, Prince William and Prince Harry. They attended Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton in 2011 and Prince Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle seven years later. (Jane even read during Meghan and Harry’s wedding.)

After Prince William and Princess Kate welcomed their daughter, Princess Charlotte, in 2015, Jane was named godmother to the young royal family. Both Jane and Sarah also attended the christening of Prince Harry and Meghan’s son, Prince Archie, in 2019.

While Charles lamented that his sister would never be able to meet her grandchildren, he constantly praised her sons.

As Charles told PEOPLE in 2017, “I love seeing the kind of uncomplicated way they treat people and put them at ease. It’s so easy to connect the dots between them and their mother.”

They decided that Princess Diana’s final resting place would be Althorp

Princess Diana and Lady Sarah McCorquodale.

Tim Graham/Getty Photo Library

After Diana’s death in Paris, Sarah joined King Charles to bring her body home to the United Kingdom. Although she hasn’t spoken much about her sister’s death in the decades since, she was president of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund before that. closed in 2012.

As for Charles, he played an important role at Diana’s funeral in 1997, walking behind her coffin during the procession and delivering a powerful eulogy inside Westminster Abbey.

Diana was eventually laid to rest on the grounds of Althorp – more specifically on a small island in the middle of Round Oval Lake. The siblings also dedicated a pre-existing temple in honor of their sister, a public space for visitors to pay their respects to the late princess.

Charles regularly visits the memorial and shares photos of “a special corner of Althorp” on Instagram.

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Source: HIS Education